Cheyenne's Blog – Uncertainties, asking better questions and making the world a better place with creative thinking

After a stroke, the ability to feel sensations can be affected, such as hot and cold, as well as diverse materials. For this reason, many patients explore texture, as well as temperature recognition. Transforming everyday objects and covering them with different materials using a variety of surfaces could be beneficial since they automatically could react to sensation while performing a daily interaction.

As soon as the stroke patient holds certain objects, they would need to check how it feels and if they can actually feel something.

https://www.flintrehab.com/sensory-reeducation-return-of-sensation-after-stroke/

For this, materials, such as cooling materials that automatically remain cold for a long time would be worth considering.

Cooling potential material would be cool packs which they could also squeeze and feel the cold.

On the other hand, to feel the heat, materials such as cherry seeds that often are used for muscle or stomach aches could be transformed too, as they absorb and transmit the heat onto the body. The patient would not just feel the heat, but also sensation by squeezing the layer of seeds. The seeds would be covered by a cloth (be inside a small bag).

Similar to the photos below.

https://www.hotcherrypillows.com/blogs/cherry-on-top/what-is-a-hot-cherry-pillow

Regular materials of exercise tools would also be materials that I would like to test and transform into everyday objects, such as cups, to stimulate the senses and increase their memory responses.

Other materials that could be attached and used for this possible intervention are pearls, screws, buttons, velvet, marbles, and dry beans.

Cups could also be covered in combinations of different materials and be 50/50.

https://www.cuh.nhs.uk/patient-information/post-stroke-sensory-deficits-and-re-education/#:~:text=1

Inspiration for coverings could be similar to Antonio Gaudi’s work who explored textures in architecture, and other collage artists.

See images below:

The meaning of accessibility is the intention or idea that a created service or product cannot just be accessed, but can also be applied by every individual. This means that the designs shall be created in a way that also challenged persons (physical/mental) would be in the position to utilize them.

Accessibility questions whether or not every person can use the service equally. So compared to the term usability, it is even more concentrated on the people who are disadvantaged.

On top of this, accessibility does not just make it possible for the disadvantaged to use certain products, but also makes it easier for everyone else, e.g. adding captions for people with a hearing issue can be beneficial for someone else who wants to watch a video on social media on mute.

Nevertheless, accessibility can make some designs more difficult for the creators. However, brands and creators have to be aware of the huge percentage they’d exclude without taking accessibility into account (15% of the complete population).

When creating a product and taking into account reputation, this would rise as more users take advantage of the product.

The following could be categories that users could have issues with:

-They could have problems with seeing visuals properly in terms of colour

-Issues with their hearing could influence the usage

-Moving restrictions could arise

-Reading restrictions, such as dyslexia

For my project, this term could be integrated into existing games for instance, or also products that could be advanced so more people would be able to use it or in a way help them, just like integrating materials into mugs. A mug is a universal object and feels inclusive to all needs which is a good starting point for accessibility. This is where everyday objects which are familiar to most users would be beneficial.

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/accessibility

After a patient experiences a stroke their sensations can also be influenced. This means survivors might not be able to feel touch, certain temperatures, or even when they hold an item in their hand. Instead, they feel like needles are touching them or in severe pain.

Since the feeling is gone the self-protection is as well. Therefore position of the arm should be changed and the temperature checked before engaging with it.

Mugs that are safe and isolated will help in this case.

To relearn sensory the following is helpful in the process:

-Vibration and applying pressure

-Touch of different surfaces

-Feeling different temperatures

-Feeling as many objects as possible

https://www.cuh.nhs.uk/patient-information/post-stroke-sensory-deficits-and-re-education/#:~:text=1

The ”Brain Bolt” game, a memory game brought me back to my gaming ideas. The main intention of this game is to remember the lights that come up and do it within a certain amount of time. I began to contemplate how to convert this to a game that not only consists of memory but also includes sensory and touch, meaning the surfaces could be different.

Therefore, I came back to the AI-generated image. The balls could be covered with different materials and patients would need to press the light the same way it was shown, similar to the ”Brain Bolt” just with a combination of memory and touch at the same time.

https://www.wickeduncle.co.uk/childrens-presents/brainbolt?gclid=Cj0KCQjwjt-oBhDKARIsABVRB0yvJXrsreVDkcj58xmd4qxeELtGxNikcs96ruoG5VAoQlWmFNVW5Y4aAg3GEALw_wcB

This is an example of everyday existing objects that are created especially for stroke survivors. It is soft foam for people to grab it better.

I envisage creating something similar for more objects and also with different changeable tactile surfaces, so the patient can have a variety. Objects that I would like to transform are pens, and pencils which would adapt to the person’s hand. For now, there are such existing tools, nevertheless, I tried wrapping kitchen paper around a pen to make it thicker and to try it myself and realized how it did not feel stable at all. Therefore, it would more helpful to make it adapt to the person’s hand.

https://www.elderstore.com/soft-built-up-handle-utensils.aspx

https://hackaday.io/project/10197-3d-printable-stroke-victim-writing-utensils

The ultimate goal would be to create a set with up to 5 items and with different functions too. With this, people could have more control over holding objects and would train at the same time with it.

Knowing which surfaces to apply, would be clearer after interventions with stroke survivors or experts.

Overall, it has to be considered that stroke patients are in most cases not that flexible anymore and are less skillful than before, for which reason tools that support them to work as before, but also train at the same time are necessary.

It would also be interesting to integrate hot and cold sensory, just like I was advised by the physio. This could easily also be done with a material that easily gets cold in the fridge for instance.

https://www.essentialaids.com/equipment-for-stroke-survivors

Many still want to stick to their daily habits without anything to change, therefore certain tools exist, but the variety of surfaces could be bigger.

Cutlery and kitchen tool alternatives already exist in different forms, but there is room for advancement, especially for activities outside the kitchen.

https://www.saebo.com/blog/top-adaptive-kitchen-aids-for-stroke-recovery/

Games for interventions:

Drawing Game

Vibration memory game – Simon game

Hot/Cold game

Materials game – putting materials together

Color and scent game? – could objects be covered with scent?

Repetition games with integrated levels

-> Testing these games as interventions with materials with the user.

Testing Games:

Interact with stroke survivors or a physiotherapist

Interventions (related to everyday objects):

Test materials with stroke survivors or physio – cotton, satin, velvet, wool etc. in order to find the right material to cover the everyday objects.

Put different materials on different boxes and let stroke patients touch them. Then they could put a sticker on a box which material they find most beneficial. This could also be in the form of an installation that could stay within an institution for about a week.

->After both interventions the outcomes would be analyzed and then the decision could be made whether a game or everyday objects are more needed and innovative.

InterAct Stroke Support based in London, is one charity I have found which helps stroke survivors through their recovery by reading to them. This organization works with actors and adapts it to everyone’s needs. The main achievement is to advance memory, as well as mood and communication skills and could be helpful in order to find out more about methods that could work within games.

https://www.interactstrokesupport.org/

This stroke charity is based in the UK and concentrates on motivating survivors to live with their situation and make their physical condition better. Therefore, they are especially interesting for my project, as it is based on motivation just like my research question is.

The ”Stroke Association” (UK-based) has the intention to support stroke survivors and create the best life possible, which could be supportive for the creation of my everyday objects.

https://www.stroke.org.uk/about-us/who-we-are

This London-based charity also collaborates with UCL, seeing this, I believe they would be open to engagement with other university students too. Since they work closely with medical researchers too, it could be helpful to get industry knowledge that is proven.

This UK-based foundation from Birmingham has the intention to find new products in order to help people who suffer from diseases like heart disease, strokes, or diabetes. They are open to cooperation and therefore potential collaborators for this project. Additionally, they are interested in creating new and innovative products, which I likewise try to do with my project.

https://www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/our-research/stroke

This charity is highly established for over 20 years. They don’t just focus on stroke survivors, but also on improving likewise the lives of their families. For this reason, communication about how to create games that could be engaging with the whole family is a consideration in my research.

https://www.think-ahead.org.uk/adapted-support-new-services

Finally, I decided that ”Shoreditch Trust” would be a good cooperation for an intervention, as they try to reach people’s full potential no matter what they have experienced. As they are in London based it would also be much easier to create and complete an intervention that is engaging if possible.

https://www.shoreditchtrust.org.uk/health-and-wellbeing/stroke-project/

In this presentation, at the beginning of unit 4, I have listed and gathered the interviews and interventions that I have conducted over the summer, as well as I mentioned my research question ”How can we create gaming concepts to develop motivation and encouragement during the recovery process for stroke survivors?” that was based on my interviews and interventions.

This was helpful in order to reflect on what worked out well, where to build up on, and what didn’t go as expected.

Linking back to my blog ”Stroke Survivor Game inspired by the Surrealist Movement” in which I gave the example of the autonomic drawing game where people just drew freely on paper to relax their hands, which could also be used as a warm-up exercise.

Below, I created a few images with AI of how this game could be transformed into a game for stroke patients.

An electronic board could show lines that the patient would need to follow which would create an image in the end. The patient could train to hold an item for a certain amount of time with this and relax at the same time by seeing the light. On the other hand, the mind would become trained though too. There could be different levels of how long and how accurately the patients need to draw and could see improvement by comparing final outcomes and seeing how they develop drawing and following lines more precisely. This also links back to the stroke survivors who explained how recording their development with photos would help them in their motivation and training. Finally, the system could also be accessed by the physiotherapist (if the person has one), in order to document progress and share it as well.